Three Simple Words
by StarvingLunatic
Summary: Three words change the course of Shikamaru and Temari's relationship.
1. Mouth movements

I don't own these characters.

A/N: This is my first Naruto fanfic. The pairing is Shikamaru/Temari.

Three simple words

1: Mouth movements

"So, I'm leaving," Temari announced, standing by the plain, dull blue door. Her voice was strong, despite what she was about to do and the turmoil that she was internally going through because of what she was about to do. She was speaking to her long time boyfriend, who was lying on the sofa as if everything was all right. They both knew otherwise, though. Everything was not all right and may never be again.

Shikamaru, who was resting comfortably in the grove that his long-time lounging had created in the soft tan couch, knew exactly what the blonde kunoichi was speaking about, even though her words seemed so ordinary. He was not quite as relaxed as he appeared because he was all too aware what she meant, but he was not going to allow her to see him squirm considering the fact that it might change her mind or she might feel satisfied and he was not about letting her think that she won something. It was not that she was leaving and was coming back at some point in time like she would any other day of the week, but that Temari was leaving forever and Shikamaru knew that good and well. One would think that he would stop her considering the fact that he really did not want her to walk out of the door, but he stayed parked on his beloved couch, looking as if he did not care, and said the exact opposite of what one would think a boyfriend who loved his girlfriend would allow to leave his mouth at such a critical time.

"Okay, well, bye," Shikamaru replied while holding in a yawn and making sure to sound as indifferent as possible. He even had the nerve to put his hand to his mouth to cover up the yawn that he allowed to escape after a few seconds. It was almost like he was bored and did not concern himself with the fact that he was about to lose the love of his life. He had to appear that way if he wanted things to go the way that he believed they should.

Temari appeared rather shocked with his nonchalant response, obviously not expecting him to be all right with her leaving. Her eyes were wide from the surprise, looking as if a missile was coming toward her and there was no way for her to get out of the way in time. Her breath even hitched in her chest, but she caught herself enough to make sure he did not see. She fixed her outward expression, but on the inside she was falling apart. How could he…how could he be so fine with her just leaving? Maybe he did not get what she meant, the blonde considered. No, he had to know because he was a genius and as stupid as he acted, she knew quite well that the lazy bastard was not dumb.

Her initial reaction was actually replaced with anger very quickly as she realized that Shikamaru knew exactly what she was talking about and yet he was acting so nonchalant about everything. Her turquoise eyes flared with a fury that the brunette ninja knew all too well and she had to resist the urge to go pummel that lazy, good-for-nothing, bump-on-a-log. A lone bead of frozen sweat ran down Shikamaru's cheek because he could practically feel her rage radiating off of her in poisonous, murderous waves. He was silently praying that Temari did not act on her feelings as she usually did, although he had planned for plenty of bruises. Things with her could go two ways, he figured. She could either beat the piss out of him before leaving or she could leave without incident because of how angry she had to be.

It turned out that Temari was too furious, and secretly hurt, to murder her jerk of a boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend as he was, right now and just wanted to get the hell out of there. She was actually crushed to the very core of her being and needed to get out of there before that manifested itself in some unflattering manner. She yanked open the door, almost pulling the blasted thing out of the wall before her soul shattered in front of him, and then slammed it so hard on her way out that the force knocked a few pictures off of the wall. Shikamaru did not bother to pick the photos up; in fact, he did not bother to get off of the sofa.

The chocolate-haired male did sit up just enough to watch the door as his beloved left, longing buried deep in his eyes behind a barrier of disinterest. His heart lurched, begging him to go after that wonderful woman. He refused to listen to that silly organ, knowing that it often led to terrible decisions. His head knew what was best and he was going to stick with the plan, despite the pleading coming from every part of his body, including most parts of his brain. Shikamaru rubbed his head and then flopped back down on the couch. He sighed, a depressing sound. His nerves were still urging him to run after the blonde woman, but he fought against that; it took all of his willpower to remain planted right where he was like an old redwood tree. He would not chase her; he had decided that a while ago. Once she left, he was going to let her go.

Shikamaru had decided that he was going to let Temari leave once she worked up the will to walk out on him because he thought that it was best for her. She needed to be away from him, on her own. Yeah, it reminded him of the tired cliché "if you love something, let it go, blah, blah, blah…" Usually, he would have thought something like that was stupid, but it worked out too well in his life at the moment. He had to let Temari go because it was the right thing to do and he loved her.

The lazy ninja just thought that it was time for his beautiful blonde to move on with her life. They had been together officially for almost five years and before that they had been dancing around each other due to their…unconventional personalities. They clashed and fought more often than anything else, but the thing that really compelled him to release her forever once she left was because he felt like their relationship was stagnant, which he had come to believe was all his fault.

The brunette shinobi felt like he was the reason that his relationship with Temari was the same now as it had been since they first officially became a couple. He did not move forward unless forced to and he put up such a resistance with Temari when she was trying to force him that even she, the strong-willed spitfire, gave into his laziness sometimes. He mostly did it because he liked annoying her for some odd reason. Usually, he would not have bothered with being so frustrating with someone, but there was something about Temari that he enjoyed seeing her eyes flare with anger because of his indifferent behavior. So, their relationship was not really going anywhere because he wanted to act out as some form of defiance toward her pushiness and when he stopped and thought about it, he thought that was rather selfish of him.

At first, Shikamaru thought that he was just being himself and getting back at someone that he believed to be annoying. But, eventually, he realized that he had sabotaged his own relationship with a woman that he deeply loved for some reason that was beyond him. He had put them into a place that was not healthy for a relationship because it was not moving anywhere; it was not going forward and it was not like they could go back much considering the fact that they were right where they started for the most part. They were just ruined and used together, like flat tired on a bike. It was right to let her go, he told himself. It was the right thing to do.

Now, Temari could find someone that would do right by her. She would be able to find someone that would not purposely be difficult and ruin the relationship before it even got out of the starting gates. Yeah, so it was right to let her go. Doing the right thing never felt so awful, like slow, mind-numbing, flesh-peeling torture, but at least she would be able to find some happiness and that was his main concern, Shikamaru told himself. She was his main concern.

-8-8-8-8-

Temari actually stood outside of the apartment for a few minutes, hoping, praying, silently begging for Shikamaru to come out and bring her back in. All he had to do was open the door and she would leap into his strong, somewhat skinny arms. She would be more than willing to talk things out with him if he only showed some vague interest in salvaging what was left of the thing that they called a relationship. The moment that she was waiting for never arrived.

A look of deep sorrow flashed through Temari's aqua eyes as she realized that Shikamaru was not going to come out; he was probably still lounging on the sofa, she thought. He was probably still in there acting like nothing was going on. The bastard did not care that she had left him! Her heart clenched tightly in her chest when that thought crossed her mind; he really did not care. The idea made the blonde feel close to physically ill, which she disliked a great deal, of course, and wished for the feeling to vanish. She turned to walk off, still harboring the hope that he would leave the apartment and chase after her. Did she not mean enough to him to chase her? As she got farther and farther away from the apartment, she guessed not. Damn him, she cursed in her mind. Damn him to Hell!

Temari felt like doing something that she had not felt like doing in a very long time; she wanted to cry. He was such a lazy jerk! And she loved him, which would explain why it hurt so much that he did not come after her. She felt as if all of her internal organs were being slowly dissolved in acid as she got further from the apartment. She lurched a few times, vomit trying to escape her stomach, but she swallowed the vile-tasting fluid back down, hoping to bury the emotional agony that she was feeling along with avoiding throwing up.

Why did Shikamaru not come after her, Temari's sorrow-filled mind demanded to know. For that matter, why did he let her walk out? Was that idiot just calling her bluff? He had to know her better than that, she thought. She was going to keep going and she was going to be out of his life forever. Was that really what he wanted? If so, fine! He could have just what he wanted then. She was never going to come back to him. That would teach him to be so nonchalant! Right, she was never, ever going back to him.

In fact, Temari was going to go home now that she was not bothering with Shikamaru and his annoying, shiftless ass. She had been staying in Konoha with Shikamaru as a diplomat for her village, but she was not looking to be there anymore if it meant that she might run into his ugly, stupid mug. So, she was going to go home, after telling the Hokage about it anyway and then having to tell Gaara about it when she finally did get home. It was not much a big deal thankfully. She had to answer a bunch of irksome questions from the Hokage about why she was leaving her appointment, which Temari verbally danced around until the other blonde figured out why Temari needed to get the hell out of the village. Once the reason why Temari wanted to leave was wordlessly in the air, it would seem that letting Temari go back home was easier done than said.

On her way strolling home, Temari reminded herself why she had walked out on Shikamaru to make sure that she held onto her anger and did not allow any weak, sentimental feelings interfere with what she was doing. He was such a lazy jerk and she was pretty sure that he did not feel the same way about her as she did about him. After all, if he loved her like she did him, then he would have at least come after her. Instead, he stayed his lethargic ass on the sofa and was so lazy that he did not even lift his head to watch her walk out of the door, out of his life. There was just no way that he could love her on the same level as she did him in her opinion because of his actions, or lack there of, when she left.

If Shikamaru loved her like she did him, he would do things for her, Temari believed. She did not even mean spur-of-the-moment, romantic things, just things that she requested of him. He always put up such resistance; actually, a hell of a lot of resistance for such a lazy bastard. Sometimes, it was cute, but other times it was annoying. It gave off the air that she was not worth his time and that he did not care enough to get off of his sorry ass to do some of the simplest tasks for her.

Why did she even stay with him for so long? Temari could not answer that one for the moment aside for the fact that she loved him. She did now know why she loved Shikamaru, though. She was too angry to process and reason such a thing out; she did not care to do such a thing either because it might have interfered with her rather sound decision. All she knew now was that she wanted to get away from him. Away from all of the pain and ache that he had caused him by not stopping her from walking out of that door, by seeming to not care.

The jerk! He was supposed to come after her, Temari screamed in her mind; her blood was starting to boil from her fury as she thought about how things went. Her heart once again clenched around itself, causing her agony because of Shikamaru and his inaction. He was supposed to show her that she meant something to him by not allowing her to stroll right out of his life. The jerk!

When Temari finally got back to her village, she sighed. It was a very mixed noise that came out of her throat. It was a sound of relief because she was glad to be back home. She actually missed the depressing, dreary looking village. It might not make the best postcard for tourism, but it was home and it had that feel to it. Something like the apartment that she used to share with a certain pineapple-headed, lazy ass whose name she would not even think since he had the nerve to just lie on the couch while she left.

The sigh that escaped the blonde female was also one of despair. She was now home, away from the love of her life. It was enough distance between her and Shikamaru to actually cause her some anxiety over it. She knew that she was not going back to him after a short visit to her village and her brothers. She was actually done with him. Being home seemed so final to her relationship with him and her body and emotions did not seem to agree with that assessment.

Temari still felt sick over the breakup, although she no longer felt like she was going to throw up. She was nervous, but she was pretty sure that would pass. She often felt tense when she was away from Shikamaru for about a day. Now, yes, the separation that she was experiencing now was different, but she was still confident that it would not last forever. She just had to wait for all of those feelings to pass and she would be all right, she told herself.

The aqua-eyed ninja went to inform Gaara that she was home. She did not explain why she had left her diplomatic post and he did not ask why. She was not sure if it was because he could guess what happened or if he just did not want to know, but she did not press and she was glad that he did not either. After all, she would feel professionally embarrassed to say that she left her job because she would not be able to handle to emotional stress of seeing her ex-boyfriend. Her brothers would probably laugh her out of the village if she said something like that, which was a disturbing thought in and of itself considering the fact that it would mean Gaara would find something funny.

After having all of the official business out of the way, Temari retired to her old room, which was where she stayed when she visited home anyway. She collapsed on to her bed and proceeded to do something that she never would have conceived of doing, she cried. She cried because she had left Shikamaru and because that lazy bastard did not come after her, not that she was totally sure that she would have gone back to him if he did come after her. But, damn it, he could have tried! The bastard!

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: Shikamaru and Temari try to get along without each other.


	2. Moving on

I don't own these characters.

2: Moving on

Shikamaru was lying on the couch in his groove and was staring at the bland, cream-colored ceiling of his very empty apartment. Well, it had furniture and everything like that, so most people would not see why he considered it empty. Really only one thing was missing, but apparently that single component made the place home and livable. Who would have guessed that such an overbearing, griping, loud, rude woman could make a house feel like a home? Well, he would have figured that out, but he had been trying his best not to think about her since she left.

Temari had been gone for a month, but it felt like years to Shikamaru; some very long years. The tiny one-bedroom apartment felt like it was miles wide since he was the only one there; sometimes, he thought that he could not walk the whole length of the place, as if it was the size of an entire country. He felt alone all the time, like there was a void in his chest, even when he was around all his friends and they were having a good time; he typically did not have a pleasant time and did not bother trying to fake it. No one expected him to show signs of enjoying himself anyway, even if Temari had been there with him. He always made it a point to appear bored, usually because he was.

Now, Shikamaru felt something beyond boredom and it felt even emptier than loneliness. To say that he deeply, practically agonizingly longed for his hot-tempered woman did not do the feeling justice. It was taking all of his willpower and more to keep him from running all the way to Suna and begging her to come back to him. He would fall to his knees and bow to her like the goddess she was if it would get her to come back to him, but he resisted that powerful urge for a few reasons.

The first reason was that Shikamaru had made a plan and he was going to stick to it. He had freed Temari from the shiftless burden that was him. He was holding her back from what he could tell and he had to let her go. He had to let her be free like the wind that she controlled. It was just the right thing to do in his opinion. So, the lazy young man wanted to continue to do right by her by staying right where he was and not bothering her with useless things like coming back to him. He doubted that she would make such a stupid move anyway, which led to his next reason.

The brunette ninja was pretty sure that by now Temari had moved on. She more than likely carved out a nice spot for herself at her village. She was never going to come back to him. He was so certain that he had lost her forever by allowing her to walk out of that door. He had not shown any sign of caring or initiative to go after her, so Temari more than likely took the hint that they were over and she more than likely took it quite seriously, which was what he wanted anyway.

Shikamaru shifted in discomfort in his body groove on the sofa as the next reason that he would not even bother with going after Temari came to mind. The cushions made a bit of noise to fill the deafening silence while his mind pointed out that she probably had another boyfriend by now. The thought of another man just touching his desert flower did not sit well with Shikamaru and he damn sure did not want to think of Temari and some other dude doing more than some innocent touching. Going beyond touching might cause him to snap and he would definitely be on his way to her village, if only to make sure that she was still single.

"I've had better plans in my day…" Shikamaru muttered in a grumpy tone to the humid air of the living room while turning so that his face was hidden in the back cushion of the couch. It was a nice clear day outside and usually he would have been all for going to look at the clouds, but he was not in the mood and had not been in the mood for about a month.

His friends were actually a little worried about him. They knew that Shikamaru spent all of his free time locked in his apartment, lazing about on that old, flat sofa. They assumed he was pining over losing Temari; they were all unaware that he had just let her walk out of his life like the genius he was. They thought that Temari had just left him, for obvious reasons to them, like the fact that he was lazy and Temari was always on his case about that. So, some of his friends attempted to cheer him, although others knew to just leave him alone.

Shikamaru ignored his friends' efforts for the most part. Some of them were persistent, which was just irksome. Others were just stupid, which was equally as bothersome. He wished that they would all just leave him alone and allow him to simmer in his own mess until it did not bother him anymore or he had another brilliant plan. For the first time in his life, Shikamaru did not have a follow-up move to the one where he allowed Temari to stroll ever-so calmly out of his life. What a hell of a time to be coming up short on ideas.

"This is troublesome," he mumbled, referring to the whole situation of being without Temari, not knowing what she was doing, and knowing that he probably could have stopped her before things got out of hand.

Why would she not just leave his mind alone? Well, Shikamaru knew the answer to that. He loved that loud-mouth, temperamental woman. He would never be all right as long as she was not with him. He was always going to be a mess because he was certain that he was always going to love her. He was going to feel like a hollowed out gourd for the rest of his life if he did not figure out how to get her back into his life, but he could not do that.

Shikamaru did not think that he could get Temari back into his life unless he was willing to change. He sat there for a moment, allowing the empty feeling eating away at his insides and soul, and realized that he damn well needed to change to avoid feeling like for all eternity. Besides, if he could get Temari back, he would want to change anyway. He would have to treat her differently to make sure that she never thought to walk out again. He would have to let her know that he loved her with every once of his shiftless being. How to do that, though?

-8-8-8-8-

Temari was dragging around the Kazekage's office building with a stack of papers in her arms. Ever since her return, Gaara decided to just give her busy work from what she could tell. She had joined the ranks of the village administration, not quite the job that she would have picked for herself upon her return. She did not see how other folks did it because after a month on the job, she was ready to hang herself; she just did not have the time to do with all of the paperwork. Hell, she was willing to bet that she would have to fill out paperwork before and after hanging herself.

To make matters worse, the place was crawling with dirty old men and dirty old young men alike. No one in the building hit on her, out of fear of not just her, but her brothers too; hey, Kankuro wielded a mean puppet. But, she could tell when they were looking at her. She had heard them whispering about what they would do if they had a "thick girl" like her. Like hell she would ever let them do such lecherous things to her! And the next person she heard say something about her ass in the air was going to die, slowly and painfully.

Aside for the perverts in the building, there were some nice, suitable bachelors around her village. None of which Temari was in the mood to give the time of day for reasons that she knew, but did not want to acknowledge. After all, that lazy bastard had broken her heart after all and if he did not want her, why should she waste time thinking about him? Little did she realize, but having such thoughts meant that she was thinking about a certain pineapple-headed bastard that let her go as if she meant nothing to him.

The blonde did not understand why it still hurt so much to apart from a man that had so easily discarded her as if she was meaningless trash in his life. Despite what he had done, or had not done in this case, her heart still yearned and ached from him. Her arms still wished to hold him, her fingers still desired to caress him, her being still wanted to love him. She held onto those feelings both consciously and unconsciously. She knew that she should let them go to move with her life, but it felt so good to love him and it hurt so bad to love him.

Even if she wanted to let go of the love that she felt for Shikamaru, Temari's body would not allow it. Every part of her being recalled his touch and would long for his gentle caress at random times, as they did now. It was enough to drive her insane because she knew that she needed to get over Shikamaru. He did not want her and that was that. She should not like the lazy bastard anyway, she told herself.

What was there to like about Shikamaru anyway? He had a big pineapple head first of all, her mind pointed out. Everything about him screamed shiftless, no-good, lazy bastard, even the way that he kissed was lazy as hell. Sometimes, she had to check and make sure he had not fallen asleep in the middle of not just kisses, but other things. He complained about everything under the sun and called her "troublesome" as if that was a term of endearment. So, why should she love him? Easy answer, she should not, she told herself, and yet, she did.

The blonde decided to stop thinking about Shikamaru as she made it to her office and started on her new batch of paperwork. She thought that she might go out with her friends that night. Friends were a new found item for Temari; new and welcomed to a degree. Sure, she hung out with Shikamaru's friends when she was living with him, but those were _his_ friends. She now had her own and she had a feeling that she would enjoy them a lot more if she was not still heartbroken over Shikamaru.

She did not like to talk about Shikamaru with her friends, mostly because she had not known them that long and she was trying to forget about him. Her friends knew about Shikamaru through rumors and stories circulating through town. They had been trying to cheer her up about him, but like his friends with him, her friends were not having any luck either. She would like to cheer up, but that would mean forgetting about him and her heart refused to do that.

The blonde female took care of all of her work and decided to just go home. She would rather be by herself than to bring down her friends' mood. She knew that she was not going to be good company and she would rather not subject them to her mood because if they got on her nerves, she would definitely turn bitchy toward them and it was not their fault that she felt like she did. If anything, she wished that Shikamaru was around just so that she could take her frustration out on him. She would like to whack him in that big head of his a few times with her fan. She was pretty sure that would make her feel better.

Well, since popping Shikamaru a few times was not an option, Temari figured that she would curl up on the couch with a good book and a pint of extra-creamy chocolate ice cream. Sure, it got cold in the desert at night and it was not the ideal time to eat ice cream, but ice cream was like alcohol in its ability to bring momentary relief…without the hangover. So, it was going to be her, a book, and some ice cream for the night. She was working herself into a dull routine, she thought because that had been most of her nights since she got home over a month ago. She supposed that it could be worse though, so she did not complain.

-8-8-8-8-

Temari's room was dully lit. She was curled up in her pajamas, which was a plain long tee-shirt. Her book was in her hands, her thumb holding it open at the middle. An empty container next to her on the coffee table kept her company as the ice cream had been taken from it a long time ago. Just as the book was starting to get good, a knock at her door disturbed her.

"What?" she called to whoever was at her door while considering hiding her book. If one of her brothers saw her reading a trashy romance novel, she would have to die, especially if it was Kankuro because death would be the only way for her to not have to hear about it anymore.

There was no response. Temari thought for a moment that she might have imagined the knock, even though it was loud enough for her to know better. She looked down at the space between the door and the floor and she could see the slight distortion of the light to tell her that someone was standing there. She made an annoyed noise; what did the person want?

"What?" Temari repeated, barking the question that time to show that she was losing her thin line of patience.

Once again, there was no response. The blonde huffed while slamming her book down onto her sofa cushion. She went to the door and pulled it open while repeating her question with much more attitude then before. As soon as the word escaped her throat, she was taken back because she noticed who had the nerve to be at her door. Shikamaru was standing there, looking like the very definition of pitiful.

"Come back home," Shikamaru pled and Temari slammed the door in his face.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: The conclusion. Do they get back together? Also, there will be more dialogue in the next chapter.


	3. These three words

I don't own these characters.

3: These three words

Shikamaru huffed as the door closed on his face; Temari was the one that had slammed the thing. Damn troublesome woman, he complained mentally, although he supposed that he should have seen that coming. He was not seeing much coming lately and he doubted that he was helping his situation by showing up at Temari's door without a plan of any kind to get her back. He had not been able to think of a strategy because he was just in such turmoil and agony with her being gone that it was the only thing that he could focus on.

"Come on, Temari," Shikamaru begged through the shut door.

"Go away, Shikamaru," Temari replied in a heated tone. She looked as angry as she sounded, which he could guess.

"Open the door," he requested/ordered. He was not even sure what tone of voice he was using. He was not sure which tone would get a positive response out of her. He considered that such a tone might not exist.

"Leave me alone!" Temari barked at him through the door.

Even though the closed door was between them, they both knew that they were close to each other. There was only the door between the former lovers. They were both standing right at the portal, allowing them to almost feel the other's body heat. Their forms leaned forward without commands from their brains as if they were magnets, seeking their opposite ends. Their bodies wanted to be close, to be touching.

"Don't do this," Shikamaru said, practically pleading with her.

"Don't do this?" Temari echoed in a furious tone. How dare he tell her! How dare he say that to her after he had just let her walk out and did not bother to go after her! He had ruined them and now had the nerve show up at her door and beg her not to do something! The bastard!

"Open the door," he repeated in a strong voice that he was surprised he had. "We can talk," he offered, sounding weaker with that suggestion.

"What makes you think I want to talk to you?" she demanded to know. As if she wanted to have any kind of discussion with the man that had so carelessly broken her heart, she thought with a scoff. She would rather beat the living piss out of him.

"Listen to me," he implored her through the door. He was bothered by the fact that she was being so stubborn, even though he knew that she was going to be that way. He was learning his lesson about showing up without a plan of any kind.

"No, you listen to me! Leave me the hell alone! I don't want to talk to you!" Temari screamed through the door. Her face was flushed scarlet from her flaring fury, which was coming off of her so strongly that Shikamaru could feel it through the door.

"Temari, just listen to me," he begged her desperately. He sounded like a panhandler on the street looking for spare change.

"Go away!" she commanded, having to will herself not to cry, even though hot, salty tears were welling up in her eyes. She was so upset with him having the nerve to come to her now, after just letting her walk out. How could he possibly act like she meant something to him now? They had been apart for over a month. They were over!

Shikamaru frowned, but he guessed that since she was still standing on the other side of the door, that was a good thing. He should be able to get through to her through the door, he told himself. Well, hopefully he could get through to her with the door between them.

"Look… Temari… I'm sorry I just let you leave like that. I shouldn't have done that," he started.

"Damn right," she mumbled to herself, but he did hear her words.

"I thought I was doing the right thing. I mean, I've been a crappy boyfriend at best and I figured you deserved better than me. I knew it would hurt when I let you go, but I never expected the amount of pain I'm in. I mean, this is the worst pain possible. I hate feeling this way. I hate being without you," he explained as best he could. His mouth was just running with his heart in control. His brain needed to take a backseat since it was the reason that he was in his current mess.

Temari wanted to say that she hated being without him, but her mouth refused to speak such words. She did not want him to know how much he had wounded her in just lying on that sofa while she left the apartment. Instead of saying anything, the tears in her eyes overflowed and streamed down her cheeks, dripping onto her floor like a light rain. She pled with him to mentally shut up, but he kept going.

"I love you," Shikamaru capped it all off. His voice was strong, sure, and sound.

The blonde's heart practically exploded in her chest from his words. How could he say such a thing now after what happened, her mind demanded to know. He had never said such words before, so why would he say them now? Her tears fell twice as hard now, cascading from both eyes like powerful twin waterfalls.

"Shut up!" Temari screamed through the door. He was a liar! He was a damned liar! She punched the door in anger.

Shikamaru took a step back because of the tone that she used. She sounded both furious and heartbroken. God, he had hurt her so much by not reacting to her leaving, he realized. He could not do what he wanted through the door then. She needed to be able to experience his apology completely in person for her to not only hear, but use her other senses to understand that he was not lying to her.

The brunette male unconsciously made his bold next move. He reached out and grabbed the knob of the barrier between him and his beloved. He opened the door without thinking and entered the area without her permission. If he was in his right frame of mind, he would have been surprised that he was not struck in the face by a giant fan the second that he stepped inside, but at the moment, he forgot that she even wielded such a weapon with deadly accuracy.

Temari was not even thinking about her fan. She was just thinking about how she wanted Shikamaru to disappear; the last thing she wanted was for him to be sharing a room with her. And then a second later, she had to amend that thought. Shikamaru wrapped his strong arms around her and now she realized that the last thing that she wanted was to be embraced by him. Well, she told herself that she did not want to be hugged by him, but some small traitorous part of her being was quite content with her current predicament.

Shikamaru was surprised to find that Temari was weeping. He hoped that being in his arms would get her tears to cease. He hated causing her such terrible agony. How could he have made such a mistake? He could not figure out how his plan had been so totally screwed up. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but now he could see that all it did was cause ache upon horrible ache.

"I love you," he repeated with more force than before and he squeezed her, trying to assure her of his words with the hug.

"SHUT UP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and then pushed him away, his back colliding with the open door.

"Temari…" he said, ignoring the pain in his spine. No time to think about little things like his back if he was going to get his girlfriend back.

"You're a damn liar! You don't love me! You don't care about me at all, so get the hell out of here! I don't want to see you anymore! In fact, I hope you die, so you know how I feel!" she hollered without thinking. She was in such agony that she was saying things that would never even cross her mind under normal circumstances. She would never wish death on someone that meant something to her if she was in her right frame of mind.

Shikamaru was taken aback by her voiced desire for his death. He looked rather disturbed by her hope and the fact that she connected death to whatever she was feeling right now. Had he killed her on the inside when he let her leave? Man, he was such a screw-up, he thought.

"Temari…" Shikamaru started again, hoping to make it through his sentence that time, but no such luck.

"I don't want to hear it, Shika! Just get out! You had your chance and you blew it. I don't give a damn about you anymore," she lied. He knew that she was not telling the truth there and had no problem with calling her on it.

"You know you do. Just forget about this—" he was cut off again.

"Forget about it?" she shrieked so loudly that it hurt his ears. "You dumped me!"

"Actually, you dumped me," he corrected her. It was not until the words were out of his mouth that he realized that was definitely the wrong thing to say.

"Get the hell out of here," she ordered in a dangerously low tone.

Shikamaru was about to tempt Fate until he noticed that Temari was suddenly holding a weapon. It was not her fan, but she could damn well kill him with just about anything and the kunai that she was holding could take care of the job. He slowly backed out of the room and she slammed the door in his face a second time. She locked the door that time and then turned to throw herself on her sofa; if Shikamaru was a wise man, he would not bother her anymore, she thought. Or else, she would do him great bodily harm.

The blonde flung herself unceremoniously onto her couch and sobbed into a throw pillow. How could he just come out say that he loved her after the way he had just let her leave? How could he even say that after the way he always acted like a lazy jerk when they were together? No, now he was just screwing with her, in her opinion. She was not going to let him hurt her anymore.

Shikamaru was not sure what he should do. He stared at the shut door as if it would give him the answers. He guessed that he might as well say his peace to the door and see if he got some kind of reaction.

"Temari, I'm sorry for everything that happened, not just letting you walk out the door and not getting up from the damned couch, but everything. I'm sorry for always being a jerk and never wanting to do anything. I'm sorry for always getting you to raise your temper. I'm sorry for everything and I promise I'll try to change if you just come back to me," Shikamaru said, his forehead touching the cool wood of the door with his eyes pinned to the floor. He sounded like he was begging her, but he did not get a response. "Please…" he whispered in a desperate tone. His voice seemed like it was going to fail him at any moment. His whole body felt ready to collapse against the door and just cry right along with Temari, not that he knew that she was currently bawling like a baby.

Temari's voice had abandoned her, so she could not even order his to go away again. She could only weep and muffle the sound with her pillow to avoid having him find out that he had affected her in such a way, even though he had already seen her crying. She wanted him to go away thinking that she was murderously angry, not weeping in sheer misery. Why did he have to say such things now? Why could he not promise to change before, say he loved her before? Now, it was too late. Things were already ruined.

"Please…" Shikamaru begged again, his voice sounding course now, as if he gargled with pebbles before speaking. There was still no answer. "Temari, I love you with all my heart and soul, and I swear that if you come back to me, I'll change. I'll treat you so much better than before. I promise. Just come back to me."

His words were met with a seemingly harsh silence. The quiet actually murdered his ears while he felt like all of his vital organs were going to fall out through his abdomen. His heart imploded in on itself as the realization hit that it was over. His supposedly brilliant plan had actually ruined his life.

"Please…" he pled one last time, but the answer was still the same. The silence proclaimed that "they" were dead. Their relationship was gone.

-8-8-8-8-

Temari swore that her soul could feel when Shikamaru left. The intangible piece of her called out to him, but she did not remove herself from the sofa. Her heart begged her to get up and give him another chance. She did not want to risk getting her heart broken a second time, though. She could not imagine how much the pain would be if she allowed him to hurt her again. Instead of allowing herself to be injured again, she decided that she was going to wait out the agony and, surely it would subside sooner or later. As it turned out, she was wrong.

-(A month later)

Shikamaru dragged himself into his apartment after another day of work. Everything seemed like same thing to him. He actually did not even know what day it was. Nothing mattered. He shuffled on in his existence, meaningless though it was to him. He was so hollow and exhausted. He was ready to just fall out and he felt that way all of the time.

"You look like crap," a familiar voice greeted him.

Shikamaru appeared shocked as he turned to the origin of the voice. Temari was in the living room, leaning against the back of the sofa, trying to look cool, but appearing sorrowful and as tired as Shikamaru. He did not know what to make of her presence, but he was infinitely happy to see her after two months apart, not to mention after a month of his disastrous visit to her.

"Temari…" he whispered because of his shock. "Wha… what are you doing here?" he asked in a puzzled voice. He thought that they were done and he really did not want to get his hopes up. Still, he liked to think that it was a good thing that she was there.

"You know, I could hate you so much if I tried hard enough, I'm sure I could," Temari replied and paused, but Shikamaru did not jump in, so she continued. "But, it's damn hard to do that. It's exhausting really."

"Tell me about it…" he muttered to himself. He felt like he had been walking around with tons of weights on his shoulders, which was only added to every day that they were apart. He was certain that given enough time, he would not have been able to get himself out of bed in the morning from the burden that he carried. She could understand that, which was why she was there.

"Are you really going to change?" she asked, trying to hide her small hope in that. Her turquoise eyes did shine with the emotion, though and he noticed.

"I'll try," he answered. It was the best that he could do. He was not sure if he would succeed, but he damn sure would try if it meant that she would come back to him.

Temari shifted uncomfortably with that for some reason. "I don't want you to change too much," she admitted. "Maybe a little bit, but not much."

"What?" he asked in a shocked tone. Why would she not want him to change? He had ruined them after all.

"Look, you're a lazy, very difficult, and annoying bastard, but that's what I love about you. I love who you are and I don't want you to really change. I just…I want to know that you feel the same way," the blonde explained.

"I do. I love you," Shikamaru stated soundly. His words stood stronger than any army ever invented.

"Then I need you to show it," she informed him in an almost desperate tone. She had come back because she needed Shikamaru for life to be slightly enjoyable. She moped since their breakup, which was thoroughly unlike her. She wanted to go back to being herself and she wanted to go back to being content, which could only happen if she was still with Shikamaru. His presence, no matter how irksome he was, uplifted her.

Shikamaru nodded in agreement with that idea, but he could not think of anything to say in response. Temari sighed and walked over to him. She seemed to loom over him, even though he was taller than she was. There was just something about her aura that seemed to engulf the whole area and fill the tiny apartment with the crushing presence that was the woman he loved.

"I need you to try to stop me if I ever walk out that door again," Temari told him.

"You don't need to tell me that," Shikamaru replied.

"No?"

"Hell, no," he said with surprising energy. "I'm not even gonna give you a valid excuse to try to walk out that door again. If you do try to leave, I'll pin you to the ground and chain you to the door to make sure you don't leave."

Temari smiled ever so slightly at that. She was feeling a bit more confident about coming back now. Maybe they could work a second time now that they got that scare and pain out of the way. They understood what they meant to each other now.

"Then, there's two things you have to do," Temari told him.

"What?" he asked curiously, hoping getting smacked in the face with a certain giant fan was not on that list.

"Tell me what you told me back at my place first," she instructed him.

"What?" he inquired with his face scrunched up as if he was confused. "I said a lot of things then, after all."

"You know what," she huffed, getting a bit angry with him because he was playing around, but it was her usual fury toward him, not the special ire he had raised in her when he allowed her to walk out of his life without so much as a sideways glance toward her.

"Ah…" Shikamaru scratched the back of his head as if he was trying to remember. "Something about something…" he muttered and glanced away from her for a moment. His deep brown eyes then turned back to her and he smirked at her in an almost condescending way. "I love you," he said with more conviction than he had ever said anything in his life and he swept her up in his arms because he could guess what the next thing was.

"Then kiss me," she ordered him and he knew that one was coming. Shikamaru wasted no time in fulfilling that command, kissing her with surprising passion on the lips. When contact was made, they both felt as if a great weight had been unhinged from their frames. They felt right. Things were in their proper order when they were together, even if they were kind of dysfunctional. Still, they functioned better together than apart, which said something considering how they got along.

-8-8-8-8-

The end.


End file.
